The present invention relates to a system and method for providing in-flight entertainment (IFE) throughout a cabin of a vehicle, such as an aircraft. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for providing an IFE system that includes a network of wireless two way communications between a seat arm and a seat video display unit (SVDU).
A disadvantage of IFE systems is that an audio program that is decoded for a particular video display cannot be presented through an associated loud speaker since each passenger may be watching a different program or may be watching at different times, particularly for video on-demand applications. The result is impractical. Thus, a related IFE uses an earphone corresponding a video display. However, plugging an earphone into an audio jack that is located on a video display is problematic because a wire hanging in front of the passenger is undesirable, since it may interfere with other activities of the passenger or, for any seat other than the window seat, may interfere with exit and entry activities of other passengers. For some related IFE systems, one solution is to provide the audio jack and the audio controls in an arm of a passenger seat.
It is believed that, with audio codecs and a digital audio system, the audio control and delivery of audio content may be transferred from the seat arm to the video display using the same cabling system that transmits content from the servers to the passengers and that transmits requests and control from the passenger to the servers or head-end. Accordingly, no audio cable would be used. However, other arrangements for delivering audio content are desirable.